Stretching 2 Low-Cost Food Budgets

By TRISH HALL

Published: September 16, 1987

THE United States Government believes that a family of four - if it has to - can eat for an entire week on $66.90. To someone who might spend this amount on a single meal, stretching this figure to feed four people three meals a day, seven days a week sounds impossible. So it seemed reasonable to put the Government's figure to the test.

Could a week's worth of meals for two adults and two elementary-school children be made for that sum? The goal was to create meals the average person would want to eat and would be able to make. The recipes could not require special culinary skills.

The task was given to Pierre Franey, who grew up in France, where even home cooks are renowned for their ability to stretch their household budgets and make do with no waste. As a professional chef, Mr. Franey, now a columnist for The New York Times, supervised large restaurant kitchens, where profits depend on efficient use of ingredients.

For purposes of comparison, Mr. Franey also developed a week's worth of menus for a moderate food budget, which the Agriculture Department calculates at $107.70 for a middle-income family of four: again, two adults and two children in elementary school. Although Mr. Franey shopped and cooked with an eye toward balance and health, the dishes were not scientifically analyzed to determine whether their vitamin and mineral content was adequate.

He was able to devise appealing dishes on both budgets. For the low-income family, however, there were no frills, except for a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola. Nor was Recipes are on page C6. there room for error, for waste, for eating in restaurants, for snacking between meals, for French bread with the soup, for olives in the salad nicoise, for a glass of wine or beer, for big portions or for the little luxuries that make food a pleasure when all seems wrong with the world.

In New York City, a family of four that earns less than $1,214 in gross pay each month is eligible for food stamps. The maximum a family can receive in food-stamp benefits is $290 a month. The Agriculture Department arrived at its weekly family food budget of $66.90 by developing menus and testing them with low-income families. (''Thrifty plan'' menus are available for 50 cents from Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, Colo. 81002.) ''If you select the kinds of foods we suggest, it is nutritionally adequate,'' said Betty Peterkin, associate administrator of the department's Human Nutrition Information Service. That means eliminating from the shopping list items like commercially prepared baked goods and potato chips. But, Mrs. Peterkin said, people with little or no income are less likely to buy these time-saving, money-guzzling foods. ''Our surveys show that they are better food shoppers, and they get more nutrients per dollar spent,'' she said.

When shopping, Mr. Franey followed a few basic rules that anyone concerned with saving money can apply. He shunned almost all prepared foods and frozen foods. He also chose seasonal produce, which saves substantial amounts, altering menus when necessary. On the smaller budget, he used meat mainly as a flavoring for beans and grains, which are nutritious and versatile. Smart shopping, he showed, does not take a lot of time. But it might mean avoiding small convenience and neighborhood stores in favor of farmers' markets or supermarkets, which tend to have lower prices. Mr. Franey did not use complicated procedures or techniques in his cooking that would be beyond the ordinary person's ability or experience.

What might be unrealistic, though, is the amount of cooking time needed when frozen and canned foods are not used - when even mayonnaise and bread crumbs are made from scratch to save money. Although most dishes he prepared can be made fairly quickly, they require more time than most Americans are willing or able to spend in the kitchen.

Before going shopping, Mr. Franey sat down with paper and a pencil and tried to figure out what he would prepare for each meal. Breakfast for both budgets was kept simple: cereal or biscuits made from Bisquick. In thinking about lunches and dinners for the smaller budget, he settled on classics like vegetable soup and a lamb and bean stew, because they can be cooked in quantity and served throughout the week.

Some foods that seem to be bargains are not always the best choices.

''We don't want to buy a chicken, or we'll blow the whole thing at once,''

Mr. Franey said. A chicken costs at least $4 on average, he explained, and if served whole as the main course, would last only one night. A better choice would be chicken livers, which cost about $1 a pound and could be served over rice or noodles.

Mr. Franey anticipated that cabbage, zucchini and potatoes would be bargains, but more esoteric items, like leeks, would have to be ignored.

''And there won't be a lot of dessert,'' he said. He was right.

Like most people who do not usually count pennies, he did not know what everything on his shopping list would cost. ''I'm looking at this list, and I'm scared,'' he said.